Bathrooms are evolving from functional must-haves into heavenly havens. Check out these latest trends for turning your bathroom into one you’ll find hard to leave
Words Bronwen Gora
Before we dive into the latest looks for bathrooms, let’s examine why this particular part of your home deserves to be more than just functional. According to a 2019 survey of 2000 people, men spend an average of 373 days in the home bathroom (about 23 minutes a day) and women 456 days (about 29 minutes).
This means we spend an average of 416 days of our lives in the bathroom. So why not give this space some extra attention?
Judging by the current styles and new emerging trends we already are; the following enhancements fully recognise that we are loving lingering longer in this most private of domains.
Spa Life
Spa-like features loom large for the future of bathrooms, reflecting the broader shift towards holistic home environments as well as that luxe five-star-hotel feel. Anything that provides comfort and makes your bathroom more like a sanctuary is welcome. Current spa-style trends include frameless steam showers, built-in seating, generous bathtubs, underfloor heating and heated towel rails.
Replace your bath with one more akin to a spacious soaking tub. Eschew tiny fittings for rain shower heads that provide a luscious dousing of water. And, steam showers may be expensive (anything from several thousand dollars to $20,000-plus for a custom design), but they are the sort of feature worth stretching the budget for.
Widely considered by property experts to add value to your home, steam showers also amplify your sense of relaxation and self-care exponentially. There are proven health benefits too, from stress relief and skin enhancement to improved respiratory function.
Double down on such comforts with customised benches in shower recesses and incorporating niches and shelves at convenient heights, so you’re not always bending down or reaching too far for shampoos and grooming products. Built-in wall niches are not only clutter-busters, they are also elegant, practical and work just as well in a shower as they do above a bathtub or next to the vanity. Design them to blend with surrounding tiles or highlight them with contrasting materials.
Curves are king in our up-and-coming spa-like home sanctuaries – from rounded basins to oval-shaped baths, arched mirrors and carefully contoured tapware. Clean symmetrical lines are being replaced by organic shapes, creating a more soothing environment.
Microcement may not sound like a spa-style addition, but it very much is. Even if you haven’t heard of it, you may have seen it in a spa or on the walls of a trendy restaurant-cum-bar. Microcement has a finish of ultra-thin, hand-applied cement that creates seamless, grout-free surfaces. It’s applied directly over existing tiles to give the urbane look of polished concrete without the cost or construction work. Think of it as being a short-cut to a luxury bathroom appearance, one that is modern and minimalist.
Timber accessories and indoor plants will also help soften any space, moving your bathroom towards the spa-like sanctuary of your dreams.
Earthy Colours
As our lives get busier, so does the importance of grounding ourselves within the oasis that is home. Hence, for bathrooms in particular, stark whites and straight greys are well and truly being left behind in favour of warmer, organic colour palettes – including the sage and olive-green hues that some interior design pundits predict are on the way out.
“Muted greens, warm beige, clay and off-white are replacing harsh whites and greys, helping bathrooms feel softer,” says Andrew Hacquoil, regional manager (NSW) of Highgrove Bathrooms. Also incoming are rosy shades like warm browns with pink undertones, especially terracotta and rose-beige. Both blend beautifully with herbal green shades and work well with warm whites.
Think outside the box, too: why not try a muted-green vanity with matt black tapware for a modern twist, or contrast brushed brass fixtures with sand-toned tiles? Organic, earthy tones will also work in virtually any style of home, from mid-century to coastal to contemporary.
When it comes to grey, it’s not out completely. Say hello to greige. Some bathroom installation outfits are hailing this soft neutral blend of grey and beige the must-have tile trend for 2026. Why? Because it strikes the perfect balance of being stylish yet timeless, versatile while being serene. It complements light oak-style wood tones, exudes calm, pairs nicely with natural textures from wood to marble, brass and greenery, and brightens and visually enlarges a space.
Smart Tech
Now for something completely different – and fun. These days it’s possible to walk into your bathroom and say “shower time” to have the water heat up, lights dimmed and soft music begin to play. So is blow-drying your hair in the reflection of something like the Zumi Delta Smart Mirror, which can analyse your skin and stream your favourite music, podcasts and videos while also displaying the weather forecast.
Other key smart features include LED demister mirrors with touch-control lighting, sensor tapware that minimises water waste, and WELS-rated* showers and mixers that combine performance and efficiency. Underfloor heating is an ultimate and much-welcomed luxury, especially in Australia, where ducted heating is not the norm.
If you want to get truly fancy, install a smart toilet. The Japanese have been onto this for years – as anyone who has visited that country will know. Key features in the modern smart toilets now readily available include heated seats with adjustable temperature settings; customisable water pressure; pulsating wash options; self-cleaning nozzles and rimless design, both for hygiene reasons; touchless or automatic flush; presence detection sensors and automatic lid opening and closing. Some come with integrated night lights, in keeping with the upscale-hotel vibe, and of course these high-end models will have soft-close seats.
They also have elevated price tags. You can expect to pay around $6000 for a highly recommended model such as the Roca In-Wash Inspira In-Tank Back to Wall Toilet Suite, but like a steam shower, smart toilets are premium value-adding features well worth considering.
* A WELS (Water Efficiency Labelling and Standards) rating is an Australian system that rates the water efficiency of products like taps, showers and washing machines.
Floating Vanities
Floating vanities are one of the biggest trends to hit bathrooms in the last few years. They’re attractive, can be used in any size bathroom, and soften an overall look with their furniture-like appearance while creating the illusion of more space and delivering greater storage. A sleek and contemporary feature, they’re the kind of piece that makes you wonder “why didn’t we think of this sooner?”.
Their benefits just keep coming. Install a floating vanity and you have a ready-made place to experiment with under-vanity lighting. LED strip lighting beneath these vanities creates the kind of soft ambient glow that instantly creates warmth and sophistication, while sensor strip lighting makes it easier to use the bathroom at night without having to turn on the brighter main lights or disturb others.
A floating vanity also makes cleaning the floor way easier than before (who doesn’t love a sparkling clean bathroom?). Also consider that when it comes time to install, unlike a floor-fixed unit, you can choose the height and take into consideration the needs of everyone in the household, including those with mobility limitations.
Top Tubs
Freestanding bathtubs are emerging as standalone pieces of self-care furniture. The idea is to have the bath as a sculptural centrepiece rather than just another must-have feature. In keeping with the sanctuary-driven spa-like theme, the softer the curves and deeper the tub, the better.
Stick with a timeless porcelain claw-foot tub by all means – its elegant appeal means it will never go out of style – but if you want to aim for the future, seek out current styles with softer, sculptured silhouettes and made of natural materials like stone or timber.
They can become a truly artistic statement, like functional art, positioned beneath a window, specially tiled or as the bathroom’s central focus.
Metal Mixing
Breathe a sigh of relief: you’re free to mix metals throughout fixtures rather than stick strictly to one style. “Matching every finish is out, mixing metals is in,” says Andrew.
Designers are now blending the soft grey tones and subtle sheens of brushed nickel with the starkness of matt black, cool undertones of gunmetal and chic look of brushed brass.
Gunmetal pairs beautifully with earthy materials like concrete, wood and quartz, while brushed nickel complements those light organic colour palettes and the textured surfaces now coming into play. Gunmetal adds a touch of drama, brushed nickel lends style and long-term versatility, while brushed-brass gold tapware adds a stylish edge to an overall look.